The first leaders' debate takes place tonight. The party leaders should be asked tough questions on education, health, crime and immigration.
All eyes are on tonight’s ITV leaders’ debate on domestic policy. From 8pm, Left Foot Forward is jointly hosting a liveblog with Liberal Conspiracy, Labour List, and the New Statesman which will feature Polly Toynbee, Sunder Katwala, and Matthew McGregor of Blue State Digital among others so sign up for a reminder and join us later.
You can also get involved on twitter (the preferred hashtag appears to be #itvdebate) and facebook are offering a ‘dial test‘ to their 23 million users, which will enable them rate the debates in real time and provide instant feedback on the performance of the three party leaders.
In the meantime, we set out some of the key questions on education, health, crime and immigration that we want to hear asked tonight.
To Gordon Brown
• Despite years of investment why is educational attainment still driven primarily by economic background?
• Communities across the country are opposed to closure of acute services such as A&E and maternity units, why are you doing it?
• With a rising prison population, stubborn reoffending rates, and rising inequality, have you been tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime?
• Has your immigration policy only benefited bosses and the foreign workers themselves?
To David Cameron
• The Lib Dems have costed their pupil premium at £2.5 billion, how much will your pupil premium cost (distinct from the free schools policy)?
• Given your commitment to “get rid of top down NHS process targets”, which current NHS standards do you think are dispensible?
• Chris Grayling was rebuked for his misuse of crime statistics, do you accept that crime has fallen since the mid-1990s?
• How will your immigration cap meet Britain’s economic needs?
To Nick Clegg
• What’s the difference between your pupil premium, the Tories plan, and Labour’s deprivation funding?
• Why won’t you protect health spending?
• How do you propose dealing with anti-social behaviour?
• How will you enforce your regional points-based immigration system?
To all leaders
• Have academies provided value for money?
• Why is life expectancy at birth 71 in Glasgow and 84 in Kensington and Chelsea, and what can we do about it?
• With the Child Poverty Act now law, what will they do in the first parliament to ensure that Britain is on track to end child poverty by 2020?
• Britain is legally committed to cutting carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and sourcing 15 per cent of our energy from renewables by the same date. What will your party do to raise the funds required at a time when you’ve all said you want to make cuts?
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16 Responses to “Questions for the leaders”
Jose Aguiar
RT @leftfootfwd: Questions for the leaders http://bit.ly/ai4XgF
AndyG
RT @leftfootfwd The questions that should be asked tonight http://bit.ly/ai4XgF
Toque
Given that tonights debate will focus on mostly English affairs (Policing, Health, Education, Transport, Environment, etc., having been devolved) the leaders should be asked whether they are willing to let the English decide how they wish to be governed in the same manner that the other nations of the UK have.
In other words, should there be a referendum on an English parliament?
Billy Blofeld
Given LFF states that is is “fighting for sustainable economy” – why do you not drill deeply into economy questions?
Personally, after Brown’s recent admission, I’d want to ask Gordon how much impact his decisions have had on the depth and severity of the recession.
sarah
To David Cameron- Do you want to see a complete end to mainstream education for disabled children, an if so, don’t you realise the benefits it can have for so many?